Hooligans tore novels from the shelves of a “mini library” before setting fire to them on Whitstable seafront.

Angry volunteers who transformed the defunct phone box in Island Wall into a book depository say the vandals “should be ashamed of themselves”.

The smouldering remains of the donated material - including copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and spy thriller This is What Happened - were left on a beach nearby.

Local Jacqueline Browning, who found the charred remnants, said: “The phone box was turned into a library, but some hooligans took books out of there and threw them on the beach and burned them.

“I was absolutely disgusted.

“First of all I thought someone had just had a bonfire on the beach, which obviously is not good, but then I looked closely and I saw the books there.

“This is absolutely awful, disgusting behaviour.

“These people just vandalised the books for no good reason, and I found it quite upsetting.”

Following the incident last Thursday, a volunteer hung a sign inside the library - which remains open throughout the day - stating “whoever took the books from here and burnt them on the beach should be ashamed of themselves”.

Launched by charity Kent Little Free Library, for which Gorrell councillor Chris Cornell is a trustee, the little library was only set up in August.

The phone box was one of three in Whitstable put up for sale by BT last year.

On sale for £1 each, Cllr Cornell jumped at the chance to purchase them and worked with Horsebridge Arts Centre to return them to public use.

At the time of the renovation, the Labour politician said: “They were in such a sorry state, something had to be done.

“While travelling around the United States, I’d seen hundreds of these little lending libraries perched on corners and so the idea was born.”